Summary: Summer vacation, a time for friends, family, and just having fun. Now, spending that time with your best friend is supposed to be amazing, which it is, don't get me wrong, Tom is like my brother. But then my enemy shows up along with little Hobbit sized aliens and all of a sudden, nothing makes sense in the world.

Chapter One: Just The Beginning of Hell.

Click, click, click, click, click!

The sound was driving me insane, the room was closing in. I grabbed my inhaler and took a few puffs and looked at my best friend, who was staring intently at his computer screen while typing away at his keyboard.

"Dude, you're gonna get caught and get killed. Then I'm going to get killed because I let you do this! AH! We're all gonna die!" I exclaimed at my best friend Thomas 'Tom' or 'Tommy' Pearson as I sat on his bed in his room. Before I had been attempting to read Shutter Island, but the nervous thought of getting caught by Mr. and/or Mrs. Pearson kept pulling my concentration away so I just gave up and started pondering how he hacked into the school network anyway... He didn't pass many of his classes so he was trying to change his grades before his parents saw them.

"Shut up. I'm working here and your yammering isn't helping!" He hissed, not bothering taking his eyes off the computer screen. I glared at him, but the noise of his window inching open caught my attention.

"Err, Tom." I squeaked, suddenly kind of scared.

"Shh." He said. Damn, he was being a jerk!

"Bu-" I began again, but he shut me up by glaring at me, I glared back, got up, grasped his head in my hands and forced his head to turn to the window which had begun moving again.

"What the?" he started to say but then the window shot up and a head of light brown hair popped in, scaring me to death, but I managed to keep from screaming. I grasped my stomach and reached for my inhaler again.

"Say a word and you 2 are dead!" Bethany 'Beth' Pearson warned climbing in all the way, I just took more puffs from my inhaler as Tom stared at her with a mixture of shock and awe.

"Are you outta your mind?" He exclaimed. "If Dad catches you, you're gonna die!" She scoffed and gave us a confident smirk.

"Oh get over it, he'll never catch me." And with that, she turned to the other window and waved to her boyfriend, Ricky, blowing him a kiss. He gave one last wave and yelled:

"Goodnight babe!" Before driving away, music blaring loudly and obnoxiously. Both Tom and I hated him. But just my luck, Ricky's my older cousin. That's how he met Beth in the first place. I looked up at Beth,

"What do you see in him anyway?" I asked her. She looked down at me.

"You mean other then the fact that he's hot, sweet, romantic, funny, and not to mention, ridiculously athletic?" She replied as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"Ew Beth, just ew." I shuddered, turning around and walking back on the bed. Suddenly Hannah burst through the door.

"Daddy's coming and he's mad!" she said.

"At who?" We asked in unison.

"Tom!" she said at the same time Mr. P yelled it.

"Busted!" I muttered, Bethany pulled me and Hannah behind the now open door. Mr. P burst in and looked at Tom, his face contorted with fury.

"What?" Tom asked his Dad looking as innocent as possible. The look vanished as soon as he saw his Dad wasn't buying it.

"If you are smart enough to hack into the school computers, then you are smart enough to pass math," Mr. P started his rant,

"Do you think that Bethany got accepted into Michigan by screwing around all the time?" He continued, glaring at his only son.

"No," Tom sighed, rolling his eyes

"She got in 'cause she is perfect." Extra emphasis on perfect.

"No, your sister worked her tail off and that is exactly what I expect from you." Mr. P countered, I was about to go up and defend Tom, before I could do anything though, Beth put her hand on my mouth keeping me from saying anything and blowing our cover. Speaking of which, I didn't understand my hiding, A) I was supposed to be there, and B) She was sneaking around. Oh yes, makes perfect sense.

"You know what Dad. You're right." Tom said,

"I don't deserve a family vacation. I'll just stay here with Rory and learn my lesson-." Mr. Pearson cut him off while holding up

"Oh no, kid, I'm not falling for that kiddo." Mr. P said shaking his head, "What's going on with you? The bad attitude.. The grades?" Tom shrugged and glanced at me.

"Nothing." Tom muttered. I knew why Tom started all this, he was always made fun of for being smart. God, people could be so mean… I told Tom letting his grades drop was a dumb idea and that he should just ignore everything everyone said. But he ignored me. Mr. Pearson looked around the room,

"You know what, I blame all this," He started again, gesturing to the computers. "For coming between this, right here.." He continued, pointing between himself and Tom. He walked over and grabbed the electoral wire. Tom flinched as he yanked the cords from the wall.

"Some good old fashion, no tech, family togetherness is exactly what we need." He said, began to walk out, but turned to us.

"Busted… Again!" I said, though it came out muffled from Beth's hand. He pointed a finger at the three of us.

"You guys too. Get some sleep, we hit the road at sunup." And with that he left the room. Bethany pushed me away from her roughly. I glared at her.

"Again, if either of you say anything! You're dead!" She said before flouncing out of the room followed by Hannah. I raised a hand as if it were a claw and made a hissing noise, Tom laughed at me. I shut the door and we started packing for the rest of the summer.

5:30 AM the next morning.

Tom and I found ourselves standing at the very back of the family's SUV, loading our suitcases into it after checking, re-checking, and re-re-checking we had everything we needed. I shut the door and looked at Tom, getting ready to say the most important words a teenager must say to enjoy a long car ride such as the one we were about to go on.

"WINDOW SEAT!" We shouted at the same time, racing for the car door, I had a lead but he grabbed me by the waist, lifted me up, and placed me behind him. I pushed him out of the way and we both grabbed the handle at the same time, pushing and shoving each other like crazy.

"Move!" We yelled. I snapped my head at him and we let go of the handle and started a glare-off.

"No way!" We said again.

"Stop that!" We shouted again, I slapped him and he slapped me.

"My car!" he said

"I'm the guest!" I reminded him, crossing my arms.

"No you're not!" He said, I went to protest but I was cut off.

"Guys! Stop fighting." Mr. P said walking up to us, he placed a hand on each of our shoulders. Uh oh…. I don't see this ending well…

"We've arranged everything." He continued, next thing ya know, I found myself squished between Beth and Tom.

"This is really uncomfortable. Just saying." Tom stated. We had been in the car for about 5 hours. And I was going to die.

"Not to mention, I'm way to fat to be sitting this close to anyone." I added.

"Rory! No you are not!" Tom and Mrs. P shouted at the same time. I jumped a little bit and looked back and forth between them.

"She may not be fat, but she sure isn't helping the situation!" Beth chimed in, taking a break from texting Ricky.

"Hey, no one asked you." Tom snapped glaring at his sister, she glared back until she got a text from Ricky. He was holding a bouquet of purple flowers while he had the most retarded look on his face. I snorted in laughter, Beth shot me a glare. Tom looked at us and reached for the phone and took it, getting a better look at the pic.

"Wow, your boy toy's an idiot." He laughed, I chuckled.

"He's not a boy toy! We're in a mature and loving relationship!" Beth snapped, snatching the phone from his hand.

"Psh, yeah right." I scoffed. I knew my cousin, he used the same game on every single girl he dated. He was only after one thing. It made me sick.

"Why don't you two call me in a couple years when you have an idea of what dating is really about." She snapped.

"I've dated before!" I exclaimed. She should know, I've gone to her with all my relationship problems before.

"Okay, you have some input. But not too much. Tom, you have nothing to say.." She said. I grinned and Tom glared. Beth, though she can get on my nerves, was like my big sister. We had that whole love-hate sisterly relationship down. I grabbed my Nook and began reading The Devouring, and listened to my iPod to drown out the boringness of the radio station that was playing. Eventually, we made it to the lake house. It was big, and nice looking to be honest.

"Well, I'm off to the pool!" Beth exclaimed, walking away from the car, a tote slung over her shoulder.

"We beat Uncle Nate! Oh yeah!" Hannah shouted happily. She went and began playing in the lawn with some Barbie's. Mr. and Mrs. Pearson went ahead and began unloading the back of the car while Tom and I began attempting to get out of the car, but the seat belt we shared was stuck.

"Ouch, move your fat head!" He grunted, using his elbow to push my head off to the side.

"My head is not fat!" I snapped, hitting his arm the best I could.

"Get out of the way!" He exclaimed, clearly annoyed.

"GET THE JAWS OF LIFE!" I shouted, leaning on my arms to get as close to the open door as possible. I heard Mr. and Mrs. Pearson laugh. Then all of a sudden, I was free. I lost my balance and fell forward, doing a front flip type thing and landing on my back.

"Go inside and get cleaned up, I'll get the first aid kit." She said, I nodded and began walking, only to narrowly avoid the large, black SUV that came swerving recklessly into the driveway.

"Nice landing Nate!" Jacob 'Jake' Pearson exclaimed, stepping out of the passenger side of the car. I spun around and glared at Tom, who had since gotten out of the car and stood a little bit behind me. He was giving me the most innocent face, but it was wiped off as soon as he saw my death glare. Oh, if looks could kill.

"Why didn't you tell me?" I asked , hitting his arm repeatedly. He backed away from me and rubbed the spot where I had hit him.

"Sorry Rory! I swear I told you... While you had your iPod in... When you weren't in the room… During school…. I gotta go!" He said before bolting off.

"Oh, yeah! You better run!" I yelled after him before turning back to the 3 other Pearson's. Nana was getting out of the car followed by Art and Lee.

"Told ya I could fishtail it!" Nathan 'Nate' Pearson was saying, I groaned and went to get my bags.

"Idiots.." I muttered. I grabbed the matching black and white zebra print duffle and suitcase

"Well too bad Nate, you missed Rory by this much." Mr. P said holding his thumb and forefinger close together. I sighed and looked at Jacob. He had grown since the last time I saw him, he got a little thinner and built some muscle and got a tan. He was almost.. hot... Wait! What! NO! He's my enemy. HE IS NOT HOT! I shook my head clear of the thoughts.

'Yes he is!' a voice sing songed in my head

'Who the mofo are you?' I asked back

'Your conscience!' It replied

'No way! I'm going insane!' I thought

'No you're not. And you like Jake, well not even like.. MORE LIKE LOVE!' It replied

'SHUT UP!' I said, I hauled my duffel bag and suit case out of the car and stormed after Tom. I walked up the 2 flights of stairs and into the room and set my stuff on one of the 3 beds then walked to the bathroom. I cleaned myself up a bit then walked into the room.

"I can't believe you didn't tell me!" I groaned, laying on the bed with a wet wash cloth wiping off my still bleeding forehead.

"I really am sorry Rory. About both situations." He said, giving me a puppy dog look. This definitely wasn't the best way to begin my summer.

"Well at least I don't have to share a room with him...And that's not fair, only I can pull off that face.." I said. I got up as Mrs. Pearson entered the room with the large first aid kit, she patched up my head and arm and left. Tom chose after she left to continue.

"Heh heh about that..." He muttered rubbing the back of his neck, my head snapped up to look at him. That was something he only did when he was nervous about upsetting me, as if on queue Jake came sauntering in.

"Twins. Set my stuff on the bed." He instructed Lee and Art.

"Oh no, no way. Nuh uh, not happening! I'd rather share a room with my cousin!" I yelled. Jake looked at me

"Oh, Rory! It's you! Nice Band-Aids." He said, pointing at me.

"Shut up..." I grimaced, glaring at my comforter.

"How ya been?" He asked.

"I'd be just fine if I didn't have to share a room with you." I said, he just smiled and winked. I glared at him as he and Tom began talking. I began unpacking.

"Rory! Tom! Come help us unload!" Mr. P yelled, we sighed and walked out. Jake laughed, Tom and I ignored him and walked down the stairs and outside to see another person I really didn't want to see. Ricky. Doctor Love boomed from his speakers.

"Why is God hating on me? Really? What did I do?" I asked Tom, he chuckled as Ricky pulled up.

"What are you doing here?" Tom asked Ricky, a look of pure disgust on his face.

"Just here for the afternoon, or maybe the night. Sup cuz?" He replied, directing the last part at me, I stuck my tongue out at him. He came bounding out of the car and to the front of it, he opened the hood of his car, pulled out a starter plug, and smirked at us

"What was that?" I asked, trying to lean over to look at it

"What was what?" he asked, sticking it in his pocket I went to ask again, but Beth came up squealing his name happily.

"Again, ew." I said before rolling my eyes and waiting for Tom, he rolled his eyes grabbed my wrist and pulled me away.

"This is only the beginning of hell." I sighed, he laughed and kissed the top of my head lightly before jogging inside.

Chapter one, done! Pics of the characters will be posted soon. Tell me what you think! No flames plz.

Much Love,

Rhey

The author would like to thank you for your continued support. Your review has been posted.